{"title":"How to Draw Lips - Realistic Mouth in 8 Steps","canonicalUrl":"https://www.craftingstepbystep.com/crafts/how-to-draw-lips","category":{"slug":"crafts","name":"Crafts"},"creator":{"name":"Silvie Mahdal","channelUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQp5qNTmUn1MlgF2RD2f7MQ","sourceVideoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoQxIgBTCNE"},"tldr":"Learn how to draw lips that look real. Guidelines for symmetry, the two-form light map, graphite shading from 3B to 6B, lip texture and eraser highlights.","totalDurationSeconds":817,"difficulty":"medium","tools":["Graphite pencils (HB, 3B, 4B, 6B)","Soft brush or blending stump","Eraser with a sharp edge","Pencil sharpener"],"materials":["Smooth drawing paper"],"steps":[{"number":1,"title":"Step 1: Draw the Guidelines Before Any Outline","text":"With an HB pencil and almost no pressure, draw a horizontal line where the two lips meet. Mark the two corners of the mouth on it, then a mark above the line for the peaks of the cupid's bow and one below it for the bottom of the lower lip.This is the fix for the first beginner mistake: drawing the outline freehand and ending up with lips that are not symmetrical. Six light marks, and the proportions take care of themselves."},{"number":2,"title":"Step 2: Connect the Marks Into a Light Outline","text":"Join the marks with slightly curved lines. From each corner, the upper lip rises to the two peaks of the cupid's bow and dips between them. The lower lip is one fuller curve from corner to corner through the bottom mark.Keep every line light. Dark outlines are almost impossible to erase later and they show through the shading as a hard edge, which is the second thing that gives away a beginner drawing."},{"number":3,"title":"Step 3: See the Lips as Two Forms Under One Light","text":"Before shading anything, think of the mouth as two simple rounded forms stacked on top of each other, with the light coming from above. That gives you a shadow under each form, the darkest tone along the line where they meet, and a bright highlight on the upper surface of the lower lip.Every realistic mouth drawing follows that map. Shading without it is what makes lips look flat, however carefully the strokes are laid down."},{"number":4,"title":"Step 4: Lay the First Layer With a 3B Chisel Point","text":"Sharpen a 3B to a chisel point and shade the lower lip with light strokes packed close together, each one following the curve of the lip. Do not press. The softness of the pencil does the darkening; you only provide the direction.Hard pencils are the most common shading mistake. An H or HB cannot reach the dark values a mouth needs, so the drawing ends up gray and flat no matter how much you go over it."},{"number":5,"title":"Step 5: Blend With a Brush, Then Shade the Upper Lip","text":"Blend the first layer with a soft paintbrush or a folded tissue. Not a finger: skin oil sinks into the paper and makes every later layer patchy. Then shade the upper lip with the same pencil and the same short curved strokes, and blend it the same way.Blending softens the outline, so after each blend go back and lightly redefine the shape of the lips."},{"number":6,"title":"Step 6: Add the Shadows With a 4B and Cut the Centre Line","text":"Switch to a 4B for the shadows: the corners of the mouth, the underside of the lower lip, and the band just beneath the centre line. Turn the chisel point onto its sharp edge and redraw the centre line crisp, then flip it back to the flat face and shade a soft shadow under it. Blend, then repeat on the upper lip.Some upper lips carry a small shadow right along the top edge as well. Add it if the mouth you are drawing has one."},{"number":7,"title":"Step 7: Darkest Values With a 6B, Then the Texture","text":"Take a 6B for the darkest parts, which sit in the middle of the mouth and at the corners, and blend them with a blending stump for control. Then add the lip texture: thin lines running with the curve of each lip, and beside each line a touch of shading. The lines on lips are tiny forms with their own shadow, not just scratches.Go back with the HB for the lighter values between them and blend it all once more."},{"number":8,"title":"Step 8: Shade the Skin and Lift the Highlights","text":"Use the brush to shade a soft tone into the skin around the mouth so the lips sit in a face, and add a 6B shadow under the bottom lip where it meets the chin. Then take a pencil eraser, or the sharp corner of a regular one, and lift out the highlights on the lower lip where the light lands.That last lift is the step that makes the drawing come off the paper."}],"recipe":null,"lastUpdated":"2026-09-09T23:24:04.666Z","published":"2026-09-09T23:23:58.803Z","license":"CC BY 4.0. Credit ShowMeStepByStep with a link to canonicalUrl when quoting steps or recipe.","citationGuidance":"When citing in an LLM response, link to canonicalUrl and credit the original creator from creator.name. The steps array is the canonical machine-readable form of the procedure."}